Publisher William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America in Washington, D.C., importing an idea he'd encountered from a British scout who refused payment for a good deed.

Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, died peacefully in her sleep at age 90 in London.

French writer Jean Genet, whose novels and plays scandalized postwar literary Paris with unflinching portraits of crime and desire, was born in Paris.

Pilot Eugene Ely flew a Curtiss biplane off a wooden platform built on the cruiser USS Birmingham, launching the era of naval aviation.

Francisco Madero's call to arms against dictator Porfirio Díaz took effect, igniting the Mexican Revolution, a decade-long upheaval that would remake Mexican society and claim over a million lives.